Manufacture of sheet-glass.



PATENTED AUG. 25, 1903.

W. W. PILKINGTON. MANUFACTURE OF SHEET GLASS.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 1, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

ammo.

UNITED STATES Patented August 25, 1903;.

IVILLIAM W. PILKINGTON, OF PRESCOT, ENGLAND.

MANUFACTURE OF SHEET-GLASS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 737,470, dated August 25, 1903.

Application filed November 1, 1902. Serial No. 129,684. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM WINDLE PIL- KINGTON, a subject of the King of England, residing at Prescot, in the county of Lancaster, in the Kingdom of England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Sheet-Glass or Glass Cylinders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object a new or improved apparatus for manufacturing the cylinders of glass which are afterward slit open and formed into sheet-glass, whereby I am enabled to make these cylinders more expeditiously than has heretofore been possible.

The invention is best described by aid of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 being an elevation, partly in section, of an apparatus as used by me; Fig. 2, a plan view of the bearing for the blowpipe.

I take on a blowpipe A an ordinary gathering of the requisite size and place it in an iron or other cup-shaped mold B, the axis of the whole being vertical. This blowpipe is placed in a bearin g C, so arranged that it may be instantly adjusted vertically with the same by means of a rack-and-pinion device hereinafter described. This bearing 0 is arranged on the bracket N and comprises a swinging cover F, (shown open in dotted lines,) which cover F is capable of being held against the stationary part G of the bearing by a catch H. When the blowpipe is thus adjusted, a pipe P, capable of vertical movement, being connected to the air-supply by a flexible pipe D and with a suitable adjustable nozzle E is attached to the mouth end of the blowpipe. Surrounding the top of the mold is a ring of burners S andabove this a ring of air-jets T. Each of these are mounted upon brackets sliding on one of the pillars O and adjustable by means of set-screws V.

I and J are cocks by which the quantities of air and gas can be regulated or either cut ofi, as required. The mold is placed on a support capable of being rotated at adj ustable speed. The bearin g into which the blowpipe is placed is arranged to have a vertical movement, and I may also arrange a suitable device, such as bevelwheels, (shown in dotted lines,) for giving the blowpipe a rotary motion when required. This device is not shown in full, as in practice it is generally discarded.

L is a rack, and M a hand-wheel on a shaft carrying a pinion-gearing K into the rack and used for raising and lowering the bracket N, which slides on pillars O O and carries the bearing of the blowpipe.

P is an air-pipe having a portion flexible and of sufficient length to allow of raising and lowering the blowpipe. This carriesair under pressure from any suitable source to blowpipe A. It is regulated by cock Q. R is a bevel-gear used for rotating the mold B.

The mode of using the apparatus is as follows: A suitable gathering having been obtained on the blowpipe, it is plunged into the mold and the blowpipe inserted in the bearing 0, after which the swinging cover F is closed around it and then held in position by the catch H and the mold set rotating. The blowpipe is now slowly raised, air being admitted at the same time as required and when the cylindrical portion of the glass appears above the surface of the mold the gas jets S are put in operation. If the glass at this point shows any tendency to collapse, the blowpipe is rotated at the requisite speed to keep the glass at the right diam eter by centrifugal force. Similarly if the glass be too hot the ring ofjets '1 can be used in this way, blowing air only. In this way the cylinder is drawn out to the requisite extent and is then treated in the usual manner. In working this apparatus on a large scale only a single bearing, as shown, has been found necessary. The blowpipe instead of being an ordinary plain stem will have a journal with two flanges immediately below the part ordinarily used by the hands, as shown. From these the pipe 'is suspended. The mouthpiece end of the blowpipe can be arranged to fit the mouth of an ordinary tubular flexible pipe with a swivel-joint.

I declare that what I claim is- 1. An apparatus for manufacturing cylinder or sheet glass consisting in a blowpipe held in a vertical position, means for delivering compressed air to this blowpipe, a cupshaped mold with sides vertical toward the top concentric with the vertical axis of the blowpipe, means for rotating either the blowblowpipe or the mold in the line of the vertical axis so as to increase or lessen the distance at will between the blowpipe and the mold, and means for heating thelnold, substantially as described.

- or sheet-glass, the combination of a remov- 3. An apparatus for manufacturing cylinder or sheet glass, consisting in a blowpipe held in a vertical position, means for delivering compressed air to this blowpipe, a mold round in cross-section concentric with the vertical axis of the blowpipe, means for rotating either the blowpipe or the mold and to move it in the line of the vertical axis so as to increase or lessen the distance at will between the blowpipe and the mold, and means for projecting a ring of jets concentric with the blowpipe.

4:- In machinery for making glass cylinders able blowpipe, a bearing for the same, said bearing being adjustable vertically and adapted to hold the blowpipe vertically, a circular mold concentric with the axis of the blowpipe and means for rotating about their vertical axes either the mold or the blowpipe relatively to the other.

5. The combination of the blowpipe A and the cup-shaped mold B in the same vertical axis, and one of them adjustable on that vertical axis, means for rotating one of them on that vertical axis with a ring of gas-burners S and the means T for projecting a ring of air-jets, substantially as described.

6. The combination of the blowpipe A, hearing G, bracket N, pillars O, rack L and v hand-wheel, shaft and pinion K, substantially as described.

7. The combination with a cup-shaped mold B and blowpipe A of means for projecting a ring of gas-jets around said mold together with means for vertically adjusting said ring; substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 20th day of October, 1902, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

W. W. PILK INGTON.

Witnesses:

JOHN H. DICKINSON, ROBERT BELFORD. 

